Mason Miller continues to make history.
The Oakland Athletics’ hard-throwing rookie closer unleashed his four-seam fastball for the world to see on Tuesday night, and he didn’t disappoint. Pitching for the American League team at the All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas, Miller hit 103.6 mph on his first pitch to Trea Turner, breaking the record for fastest recorded pitch in All-Star history.
Aroldis Chapman had held the record for the fastest pitch thrown in an All-Star Game during the pitch-tracking era (since 2008) when he hit 103.4 on the radar gun in 2015 with the Reds.
In his perfect top half of the fifth inning, Miller induced a one-pitch flyout from the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte, struck out Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani on four pitches and got the Phillies’ Turner looking on a perfectly located slider.
Ohtani hit a three-run home run in his previous at-bat against Boston’s Tanner Houck.
“I wasn’t giving him one up, that’s for sure,” Miller told Tom Verducci of Fox Sports during an in-game interview. “I think I got the second strike, then I got one that might’ve been down a little bit, but I got to the back-foot slider.”
Miller’s perfect inning kept the score tied at 3-3, and the A.L. went ahead in the bottom of the fifth, when Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran hit a two-run home run off the Reds’ Hunter Greene.
“It’s hard to not enjoy that, with this crowd and these players here,” Miller said. “It’s what you dream of.”
Multiple other players with Bay Area connections appeared in the All-Star Game. Here’s how they fared:
It was an All-Star debut to forget for the Giants’ sinker-balling ace. Webb inherited a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning and immediately got into trouble, allowing a single to Texas’ Marcus Semien and walking Fremont native Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians.
After getting Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson to ground out, Webb surrendered a two-run double to Juan Soto of the New York Yankees. Webb got Soto’s teammate Aaron Judge to ground out, but Cleveland’s David Fry singled home Soto to tie the game.
Webb struck out Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez to end the inning.
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